Hart district adopts $15M COVID-19 plan

Chief business officer says funds will be allocated into 3 different parts

The William S. Hart Union High School District governing board unanimously approved an application Wednesday to receive more than $15 million in government funds for COVID-19 relief on campuses.

In order to receive $15,016,468 from Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds — under the American Rescue Plan Act — school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools must submit a plan explaining how the individual body intends to use its ESSER III funds.

One of the speakers during the meeting asked how more information could be found on how the Hart district plans to spend the money.

Ralph Peschek, chief business officer for the district, said that of the $15 million the funds would be allocated into three different parts: $3.25 million for “strategies for continuous and safe in-person learning”; $6 million for “addressing lost instructional time” and the remaining $5.75 million toward technology, such as hotspots, laptops and digital instructional materials.

As for the first two categories, Peschek said these things included cleaning supplies, filters, extra teachers, special education teams and more.

Peschek said the information to decide on where the funds should be funneled largely from the Local Control and Accountability Plan adopted by the district. The expenditure plan, Peschek said, was based on those things previously stated in the LCAP, and board member Bob Jensen motioned to adopt the expenditure plan.

“Within three days we were online, and we had Chromebooks being delivered by principals, and we had hotspots out where kids didn’t have internet,” said board member Linda Storli. “I know that that costs a lot of money and this is kind of nice that this can actually go back into the bucket to pay us back.”

More information about what can be found in the expenditure plan for the $15 million can be found at https://bit.ly/3m79Jpz.